Tentacle
The Tentacle first appears in the Black Mesa Research Facility, where three Tentacle creatures are growing inside a rocket propulsion test chamber. They reappear later in the game, including appearances on the surface and in Xen. They are also seen in Half-Life: Opposing Force, two of them in a massive terrarium-like area where the player has to get past them. Overview .|thumb|200px|left]] A large, green, segmented stalk supports a "head", which ends in a sharply pointed, blade-like appendage and features what looks like an eye. This "eye" appears to be a sensory organ, although the creature only reacts to sound and surface vibrations. Tentacles usually emanate from pits, into which they can retract when injured or in danger. Typically several Tentacles use the same pit, suggesting that they may be appendages of a larger organism. Indeed in ''Half-Life, after the first Tentacle encounter, the player travels through the chasm the creature had occupied. The Tentacle's body encountered at the bottom of the chasm is somewhat squid shaped, with three stumps that appear to have been severed. Some concept art of the Tentacle, shows it to be cluster of three Tentacles attached to a bulbous base, which matches that encountered in the game. Although Tentacles usually come in groups or clusters of three, single Tentacles are also encountered, and the number of Tentacles present may reflect the size or stage of development of the base, or else a more spread-out being, with Tentacles in various locales. Reasons that could support this assumption are how the Scientist pulled from the control room, when first encountered in the silo, is pulled down into the pit and possibly eaten by the base. Another characteristic could be how it relies on hearing, as the base could be too large to fit through, and relies on keen hearing to pull prey down. Behavior and skills In terms of behavior, Tentacles aggressively target prey in the immediate vicinity of their pits. While searching for prey, they gently tap the surrounding area, but when even the quietest noise or vibration is detected, the Tentacles will furiously and repeatedly strike at the location where noise or vibration was detected. When a Tentacle comes in contact with prey, it will attempt to pull it into the pit, presumably where it is consumed and digested. In the game, this behavior is witnessed firsthand by the player when a scientist is grabbed and taken, screaming, into the pit at the base of the Tentacles. In the game, Tentacles cannot be destroyed with the player's arsenal, but shooting the stalk a few times will temporarily drive the creature into its burrow. Great care must be taken when moving near them, forcing the player either to silently crouch past the burrow or cause a distraction with explosives (preferably hand grenades, as those don't reveal the player's location with sound), allowing the player to sprint out of range. It is a good idea to use this tactic, as tentacles can kill the player with a single strike. Behind the scenes Chuck Jones designed the Tentacle and the Silo D scene where the creature grabs the scientist and hauls him screaming from Silo D-01's control room. According to John Guthrie, no one at Valve was prepared for anything like this scene. When they saw the effect it had on gamers in sneak previews, they knew they had made the right decision to put animated sequences directly into the game rather than setting them apart in cut scenes.Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar Gallery File:Tentacle concept.jpg|Concept art. File:Tentacle silo concept.jpg|Concept art for the Half-Life chapter Blast Pit. File:Gordon tentacles.jpg|Gordon Freeman wielding his crowbar in front of the Blast Pit Tentacles, while two security guards fall to their deaths in the background. File:Tentacle render.jpg|Old high-res model render. File:Bigtent.jpg|The early Barney in the Tentacle pit. File:C1a4i0001.jpg|Tentacle taking away a scientist in Silo D. File:Barney Tentacles pwnd.jpg|Security guard about to get killed by the Tentacles in Silo D. File:C1a4g0001.jpg|The base of Silo D's Tentacle, underwater. File:Tentacle Xen1.jpg|The first Tentacle seen on Xen. File:Tentacle Xen2.jpg|Tentacles on Xen. File:Tentacle base model.jpg|Base model. Trivia * There is a possibility that the Tentacles are members of Race X species, because their appearance is very similar to the Gene Worm. It is speculated that Tentacles may be in fact the Gene Worm's body parts which somehow found its way to penetrate both Earth and Xen places. * The Reaper Vine enemy from Metroid Prime has a very similar appearance. List of appearances *''Half-Life'' *''Half-Life: Opposing Force'' References Category:Xen creatures Category:Bosses Category:Half-Life Category:Half-Life: Opposing Force Category:Enemies Category:Chuck Jones designs